PixlBit

is that for real?  We'll ravage Dark Souls like we ravaged Iran?  When did we ravage Iran? 

It's not even a Japanese game, is it?  I thought it was a Korean game? 

I guess we've ravaged Iran.. LOL

And yes, it is a Japanese game

Don't forget Godzilla! Look what we did to him. That movie was awful. The Japanese should be glad that Americans embrace their games. Their industry is struggling as it is right now. They have simply lost touch with what appeals to most US gamers.

I wasn't a fan of the movie either, but I did prefer the CGI'd Godzilla over the guy in the suit, but that's just my personal preference.

And you're right. They should be glad that us 'Murricans have embraced Dark Souls and Demon's Souls. If not, then Dark Souls II may not have even been created.

An otaku troll with a sense of Japanese elitism, that's something fresh (!). It's annoying seeing it from any side western or eastern. I bet that since the success of The Witcher series in Poland there's probably a few Polish nerd trolls here and there that have a Polish elitism complex too lol. Dark Souls is Japanese but it's the most western Japanese game series you can imagine, similar to Dragon's Dogma. I don't see anything in the Souls games that tries to pander to the Japanese audience so I don't see where they get the sense of cultural ownership. There's not a teenager to be found in any Souls game, no wide eyes, upskirt shots, and no thought bubbles or anything. This game is more Scandanivian than anything with all the nods to Nordic mythology and the giant trees.

Japanese studio making a western designed game with mostly nordic influences. It's all over the map.

Yeah, I was also kind of surprised whenever I saw this. I don't understand what the big deal is. For the most part I think of games from Japan being a bit 'over the top' whenever it comes to action and such (Revengence for example), but Dark Souls is kind of straight forward with it's action.

And like you said, the architecture and lore really dig into another culture altogether.

Oh well.. Elitism at its finest I suppose

Easy Foreigner Mode? Well that is a good point. Let's go through the list: Etrian Odyssey, Fire Emblem Awakening, Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, etc. Isn't it called nerfing? I would also throw in games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age and virtually every major blockbuster console game release recently. Maybe they should just select a harder mode. 

I don't understand why they're even mentioning that. As far as I can tell, most American players love the game for its difficulty. That was what initially drew me into the series to begin with.

Well the Iran/Tokyo comment is ridiculous. But the sentiment that the mainstreaming/popularity of the Dark Souls franchise, or any franchise,  will nerf the game play has been voiced before- including 'mericans and not just for Dark Souls, but other games as well. 'merica! 

I agree with Chris, the Japanese kid doesn't have a leg to stand on. Japanese aren't known for difficult games anymore than western games are. Japanese are known well for easy games, simulations, and social games too.

Do you mean Nintendo games? 

The vocal minority like that kid from Reddit have a perspective that Japanese games are tougher, smarter, and get dumbed down for foreigners. The two markets are more similar than morons like that care to think. The top 30 best selling games in Japan in 2012 didn't have a single Souls game, Etrian Odyssey, Ninja Gaiden, DmC, or any other game mentioned today as being difficult. The point is that the eastern and western markets have the exact same minorities of gamers that love the challenge and gobble up a game like Dark Souls. It's not the majority, it's not a defining characteristic of the culture or industry there just like it isn't like that here either. They're quite like us.

Each market has people trying to bank on blockbusters, build for different difficulty levels, follow trends in what's selling, and in some ways dumb things down. Elitists on either side should be treated like the brats that they are.

Sometimes difficulty is subjective as well. Some people probably think shooters are for dumb apes but I've had more challenge playing Halo on Legendary by myself than in Dark Souls. Dark Souls is my favorite RPG and it's the most satisfying time I've ever had in an action-RPG but I can die way more times in a single 12 hour Halo 3 campaign than in 100 hours of my Dark Souls playthrough. In both games I can be challenged, die, come back and learn from my mistakes and I end up feeling rewarded and satisfied. Halo on legendary is quite a bit more challenging for me than Dark Souls. I like how in Dark Souls the enemies get more aggresive and have much higher HP and damage in NG+. In Halo I love how entire encounters and experiences can change as difficulty increases. Enemy classes and weapons can change, aggression and tactics change, their evading skills increase, and things get much tougher and they start allowing the AI programming to access and use more advanced options.

I don't mean to get specific, but Ninja Gaiden 1 and Devil May Cry 3 were re-released with easier modes and I did see  Fire Emblem as a top 20 game for Japan last year which also released with an easy  mode. Some have pointed out the Dark Souls and the inclusion of bonfires made the game a lot easier than Demon's Souls which didn't have a checkpoint feature, so a little skepticism about changes to the next installment of Souls is somewhat warranted. Blaming Americans and Westerners is stupid. Mass Effect 2, Diablo 3 and Dragon Age 2 were nerfed for the sake of sales. It happens. 

I agree. Dark Souls 2 is my most anticipated game that I know is coming out. But I'm still hoping that nothing too drastic changes about Dark Souls 2. They have a new lead designer on it so I'm wondering what ideas and features they want to bring to the series now. I'm hoping they build on Dark Souls and fix some of the technical things that weren't great about it instead of changing everything fundamentally. I really love the bonfire system in Dark Souls but you're right it's a big change from Demon's Souls. It's a big fundamental change that worked for the better I think. But big changes like that can easily go the other way.

From the gameplay demo they showed the game is looking really good, the patient methodical combat looks intact, pacing and atmosphere looks intact, bonfires are there as well. So far it just looks like Dark Souls but slightly more refined and with some neat new particle effects and lighting. I wonder what the boss battles will be like, if there will be fast travel, and how they'll handle the tutorial first area of the game. They're trying to make the game more accessible but I hope it just means messages left on floors by the devs with clear concepts and more transparency in how the systems interact. I think that's what they'll do, because if they actually try to use cutscenes or take control away from the player or make them less vulnerable it'll be a terrible way to handle it. The tutorial dungeon in Dark Souls was great, it wasn't too long or short, it had all the enemy types you need to see (melee, ranged, boss) to get a introductory glimpse of the combat and it was tough and they made you vulnerable at every turn, and the Asylum Demon jumps down out of nowhere and can hit a new player like a ton of bricks with how aggressive it can be and how much damage it deals with its hammer.

There's some things they can improve on and make better in Dark Souls 2, I just hope they don't loose all the good stuff that didn't need to be changed.

I was watching a recent walkthrough video of DS2 with the developers commentary and there is a mention of "keys" for unlocking environmental puzzles. There may be a bit more of retread or backtracking this time around if these "keys" are involved. It's just speculation on my part, and maybe there was something lost in translation. Another thing the developer mentioned was empty areas with atmosphere, meaning lack of enemies. This was demonstrated in the same video where a dragon skeleton becomes animated inside a mansion area. So keys and atmosphere.

DmC and NG3 both tanked in the west for being less challenging than the best entries in their respective series.

But you touched on the problem: everyone, Japan included, is trying to make blockbuster console games, which of course need to be made accessible for as many skill levels and player preferences as possible.  The shareholders make this choice, they assume all the responsibility and blame, not "foreigners."

I dunno. There are a lot of gamers not so hung up on being challenged to the point of absurdity. For example, I played DMC 1-4 for the gameplay but I rarely put them on the hardest difficulty setting.

NG3 didn't sell as well due to lack of weapons, bland level design, and a reduction in gore as well. It wasn't only because it was easier.

As for DmC? We're going to have to agree to disagree there because to me the reboot looks really fun. Less frames per second or not, it has the same frentic combo heavy combat as previous entries and the morphing environments are cool!

I think with the new DMC it failed because fans are fanatical, not because it is actually a shit game. Then again, I actually enjoyed Enslaved too.

Well, I remember DMC3 being super hard and not selling well and because of that they re-released the game with an easy mode. 

The original Ninja Gaiden on XBOX was hard as well, but then was re-released with an easier mode to appeal to more players. 

Yeah, I own both the standard DMC 3 and the easier "special edition". Got the later just because it added Vergil as a playable character. (Though sadly he did not have his own story line.) His play style was silky smooth though!

I own the original DMC3 also as well as the original Ninja Gaiden. They were hard but good. The Demon's Souls of their time if you will.

DMC3 and NG had good word of mouth from the start, difficulty aside.  They had a good base from which to add wider appeal. DmC and NG3 didn't capture the casual or expert player, and the expert player is so disgusted or disinterested they probably would not buy a harder version of either of those games.  That's the difference.  People still speak highly of the former two. The latter two will be forgotten before the year is over, relegated to the dust bin of gaming history.

To be fair, Japan isn't the only place guilty of xenophobia and ass backwards commentary. Here terms like "weaboo" "waifu" "lolicon-lover" and "otaku" are dolled out like marks of shame. Regardless of what those words actually mean, you can get labelled as them merely for enjoying games from Japan. (And they never have a positive connotation when used amongst us westerners )

Besides, these are ignorant Japanese kids talking out their butt-holes. lol. Consider them the 12 year old "gamer-fan-trolls" of the east with arrested development issues. Racist? Yeah. Overly nationalist? Yup! Elitist dicks? You betcha! But we have people like them over here too.

We ravaged Final Fantasy?  If they want to do this dance, Final Fantasy is the result of ravaging Ultima, so now what?  King's Field, and hence, Dark Souls are the results of 'ravaging' Ultima Undeworld and early Elder Scrolls.  

Just let people ignorant of history stay ignorant.  I need the lulz.

We totally ravaged it,bro! It's surely not Square/Enix's own fault Final Fantasy has been in decline! Just look at how glorious FF-14 turned out! (cold sarcasm)

By the way, I BLAME EIDOS TOO! Human Revolution? Sleeping dogs? What disgraces to gaming!

I know you're using some sarcasm and the charm I always love, but I can only hope the Deus Ex HR disgraces comment was part of the sass and charm lol. That was a fantastic game with great stealth and systems design in general. That's the only reason I have a lot of faith in them in the upcoming Theif 4 game they're making.

It was all sarcastic Michael. lol. I'm heckling S/E for blaming Eidos for their "poor sales". (More like they have ridiculous expectations & poor money management skills.) For the record, I think Eidos is coming out with great titles!

Lol I thought that was the case. Those Eidos games in general it seems like their western and European developed games are the kind of things keeping them afloat or saving them from the huge blunders like FF14. I mostly get that opinion from hearing Julian talk about it here in podcasts on the site. FF14 was a money spender to begin with I bet, and then it failed horribly and they went and redid the whole thing so it was like a huge money pit that probably could've driven the company under if it wasn't for the mild successes and even "failures" they refer to from some of their western developed games.

I don't really keep up with Square Enix like others do so I just like to listen to others analyze them, but from the sounds of it they kind of owe their survival to Eidos, Crystal Dynamics, and other companies cranking out some good games that don't seem to get appreciated as much as they should from the big wig Japanese execs.

Many Japanese execs live in a time anomaly pipe dream from when Japan dominated the gaming landscape. Since then Europe,America,South Korea,China,and Canada have arisen to challenge them. It's difficult for egomaniacs to acknowledge when they're not on top anymore!

Don't get me wrong. I still love Japanese gaming! But I also love games like Mass Effect Dragon-Age: Origins, Divinty 2 Dragon-Knight saga,Magna Carta 2,Bioshock,Alice: Madness Returns,Enslaved,Alan Wake, and The Witcher as well!

Though I'm limited when it comes to purchases because of my wallet, I try not to be too much of an elitist in any direction.

The Japanese get bent out of shape over the most ridiculous things sometimes. Remember how pissed they got when an American became a champion in sumo wrestling? I understand tradition is very important to them,but you have to play by the rules as they are laid out. The irony to me is how much the Japanese dig American stuff. They love our movies and music. They need to lighten up about games.

If the past couple of weeks have taught me anything, it's that being a jackass is not limited to any particular boarder. I don't know if I'm willing to say "oh Japan" at this so much as "that guy's a tool."

I was thinking that too. Go to any reply section & there are plenty of assholes typing perfect english as well. "Jerks" hail from everywhere!

Except here, because you guys are awesome!

I can be a jerk sometimes but I at least try not to be,Angelo. lol. I'm also not above apologizing.

Question? When did Iran become a game?

When Uran, Iran. We all ran.

LOL. Thanks for that.

I always thought there were a big number of elitist Japanese gamers.  I know we have no small number of them [American elitist] here.  Assholes are everywhere.  I learned years ago that many Japanese want even touch a western made game.  It's one of the reasons why western games don't sell well there.  But, my info on the subject is old.  It's possible things are better now.  I read somewhere that Capcom published GTA there and it did okay.  There are also a growth of Japanese gamers that play a lot of outsider games.  I just hope the Japanese realise that Japan is not the golden child of the game industry like they use to be a decade or so ago.  Japan still pumps out plenty of great games, but so is everyone else.  Awesome is spending everywhere. 

Does anybody here read Japanese? No? So as far as we know it's possible we're being trolled.

Ha! Ha! Ha! It's a likely possibility. However, I do think there really are elitist-Japanese-trolls just as there are elitist-trolls from everywhere else. (My faith in humanity as a whole isn't always the best. I blame the internetz!)

Whether or not those Japanese posts are accurately translated I cannot say though. Good point Joaquim!

Damn.. I wasn't expecting all this..

But as Joaquim Mire said; it could just be someone trolling and posting fake translations. I can't read Japanese so I can't confirm anything said.

Regardless though, thanks for the great thread of comments everyone! You all had great points and i was incredibly surprised to see how this Blog grew overnight.

I refuse to add "srs bizness" commentary to this, so I'm just going to point out that according to a lot of what I've heard, being an American amongst Japanese women, especially if you're military, is its own version of "easy foreigner mode."

Borderline xenophobic/mysogonistic statements based on hearsay? That's what I do, and you're welcome.